From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: George Dunlap Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/7] tools: remove private Makefile variables Date: Wed, 6 May 2015 12:49:03 +0100 Message-ID: <5549FFAF.80501@eu.citrix.com> References: <1429871134-16719-1-git-send-email-olaf@aepfle.de> <20150506113759.GA8478@aepfle.de> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: In-Reply-To: <20150506113759.GA8478@aepfle.de> List-Unsubscribe: , List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: xen-devel-bounces@lists.xen.org Errors-To: xen-devel-bounces@lists.xen.org To: Olaf Hering Cc: "xen-devel@lists.xen.org" List-Id: xen-devel@lists.xenproject.org On 05/06/2015 12:37 PM, Olaf Hering wrote: > On Wed, May 06, George Dunlap wrote: > >> On Fri, Apr 24, 2015 at 11:25 AM, Olaf Hering wrote: >>> Replace all private variables in Makefiles with automake variables. >>> This series is based on 92ff75384bce7a11e27fbfaf0c531e88dd1ab4c7. >> >> Why? > > Why use private variables? I'm not saying we should use private variables; I'm asking why you think we shouldn't. So it sounds like the answer to my question is something like: "The Xen build system creates a wide range of private variables which duplicate existing variables created by automake. There's no reason to duplicate these variables; just use the ones provided by automake. This makes our code simpler, by not having to duplicate a bunch of already-defined variables. It also has ${OTHER_POTENTIAL_BENEFIT[@]}." You should put that explanation in the cover letter, and have some reference to it in each of the commit messages, so reviewers and archaeologists understand why you're making this change. -George